How to measure what cannot be seen: the dark matter that surrounds galaxies

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This project aims to use a new approach to measuring dark matter, based on the way that it curves spacetime around it. These new techniques, combined with data from the latest generation of Australian astronomical facilities, are designed to enable the project to make the first direct measurements of the dark matter that surrounds galaxies. The stellar-to-halo mass relation encodes basic information about the processes that govern galaxy formation and evolution, and represents a crucial test for cosmological models of structure formation. The project aims to measure the effect of gravitational lensing, which enable the measurement of the total masses of the dark matter halos around individual galaxies, and thus measurement of the stellar-to-halo mass relation.